Retirement is looking good on Iain Valliere. In a YouTube video shared on June 29, 2025, Valliere walked through the workout that helped him transform his biceps and triceps since stepping away from the stage.
Throughout his Men’s Open tenure, Iain Valliere was renowned for his extreme conditioning levels and muscle hardness. He placed as high as seventh on the Mr. Olympia stage, a feat he achieved twice: once in 2020 and again in 2021.
For the sake of his health, longevity, and future outside of the sport, Valliere finally decided to retire in 2023, sharing that, “my body just didn’t want to be doing this anymore.” As a brother-in-law, close friend and mentor to Chris Bumstead, Valliere has helped shape the best inside the gym.
The Routine That Helped Iain Valliere Supercharge Arm Growth
Find his exercise selections below, shared from his recent YouTube video:
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- Cable Triceps Pushdown
- Seated Cable Biceps Curl
- Close-Grip Bench Press on Smith Machine
- Single Arm Preacher Curl
- Single Arm Cable Tricep Pushdown
- Hammer Cable Reverse Curl
Cable Triceps Pushdown
He kicked off the session with a warm-up of cable triceps pushdowns.
“Just to get the elbows a little more warmed up,” shared Valliere.
Seated Cable Biceps Curl
For Valliere, he likes to start with triceps before moving to biceps since they take up two-thirds of the arm.
“I don’t have a set way of doing this. I do think there is a right answer to it, and the answer would be do all of what you think needs improvement first.
For most people, two-thirds of your arm is triceps thing, so generally, it makes sense to do your triceps first, biceps second. I do that sometimes.”
Close-Grip Bench Press on Smith Machine
Although science might not agree, Valliere said the best way to grow his arms was lifting heavy on the close-grip bench press.
“I don’t have any science to back this, maybe in terms of actual elbow flexion it’s not even close to the most ideal, the science boys would hate on closed-grip as a whole for an ideal triceps exercise, but by my anecdotal bro science of 20 years of bodybuilding, nothing grew my arms more than when I was younger and pushing very heavy close grip bench press.”
Single Arm Preacher Curl
Valliere moved to single-arm preacher curls next, where he’s able to adjust the machine’s tension curve to make the bottom, mid-range, or top of each repetition more intense.
“You can adjust the tension curve to be more heavy at the bottom or more heavy at the top or even in the middle and everything in between. It’s got five adjustments,” he shared. “It’s not as good as the Prime preacher curl, obviously they’ve advanced a little bit and the ergonomics are better but it’s a solid piece.”
Single Arm Cable Tricep Pushdown
Before moving to the end of his workout, Valliere fitted in some single-arm cable triceps pushdowns.
Hammer Cable Reverse Curl
He programmed hammer cable reverse curls as a finisher for building his forearms.
“I find they definitely work really well for brachialis development. I don’t know how much overall they’re doing for your biceps, but you’re still doing a curl.
But the brachialis is taking a lot more of that, and I’m definitely in my get juicy forearms era. They feel like a good thing to incorporate in here.”
With Bumstead and Valliere no longer competing actively, it’s led them on adventures outside the US. They recently teamed up and traveled to Turkey to get hair transplants and continue to transition to a life outside of the sport.
Valliere is still determined to carry the mass of a Pro-caliber Open competitor. He believes this arm workout, designed to grow the biceps and triceps, has helped him achieve that goal since laying down his posing trunks.
RELATED: Iain Valliere Talks Retirement, Says He Won’t Train Chris Bumstead, Plans to Judge Contests
Watch the full video from the Iain Valliere YouTube channel below:
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